The energy giant on Tuesday saw the number of women on its top table dwindle to one after non-executive director Christine Morin-Postel stepped down at its annual general meeting. Linda G. Stuntz, another non-executive, will now be the sole woman alongside 10 men.

Challenged by a shareholder on the issue, Shell’s chairman Jorma Ollila indicated the company planned to appoint more women over the next year but said it was still searching for “females who really have the ability to contribute” to the board. “We need a little bit more time,” he told shareholders, asking for “patience”.

In a statement, Shell said: “The board acknowledges that women and people of different ethnicities are underrepresented and intends for a quarter of its board to be female by 2015, with the addition of a member with an Asian-Pacific background.”

Chief executive Peter Voser told the AGM that it would be “inappropriate” to speculate on the outcome of a European Commission investigation into whether Shell rigged the oil price for more than a decade.